MDHA/MN DNR listening sessions

[smsmith]

For anyone who doesn't get MN ODN...the Brainerd meeting is March 19, Cambridge is March 20, March 24 in Bemidji, March 25 in Morris, and April 1 in Virginia.

These meetings are designed to get input from the public. They are "co-hosted" by the MDHA and MN DNR...please turn out in numbers AND MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD. Between these listening sessions and the upcoming public stakeholder meetings, if you want your input/beliefs/sightings/etc. heard...this is YOUR chance. If you don't show up and talk...then you better not be beatching and whining after they occur.

[smsmith]

46 views...zero responses. Typical...everybody wants somebody else to do the heavy lifting, then beatch and complain when it doesn't work out the way they want. How about growing a pair and sounding off?

[smsmith]

62 views...zero responses. "Minnesota Nice"...how far is it getting you?

[BuckSutherland]

If I give you a letter will you read it for me??

With kids and work I cant be there. None of them are within 100 miles of me anyways. You can read it at any session you want. I hunt in 172. I have about 10 signatures from people that hunt with us that are POed! We have already emailed Leslie, and I told Larry Francis our local CO just what I thought.

[smsmith]

If I give you a letter will you read it for me??

With kids and work I cant be there. None of them are within 100 miles of me anyways. You can read it at any session you want. I hunt in 172. I have about 10 signatures from people that hunt with us that are POed! We have already emailed Leslie, and I told Larry Francis our local CO just what I thought.

I'd do my best, yes. If you really cannot get to any of the meetings, p.m. me and I'll shoot you my email address.

None of the sessions are within 60 miles of me either. But I'll do my best to make as many of them as I can. Emailing Leslie does absolutely nothing. I know. I sat in a meeting with her, Telander, Sen Dave Brown, Sen. Paul Gazelka's asst., and other DNR and political folks this a.m. along with Brooks Johnson.

Who listened? NOT the MN DNR. They have what they want and refuse to listen to data they have not gathered. Who IS listening? Your elected and mine. Let them know what you think. Contact them every week or every other week at least. Believe it or not...they are responsive when you keep at it. If you don't know where to find your elected (or somebody else doesn't know) here you go http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/ Contact them...keep contacting them until you get a response. Do not take no response as a response. These people WORK FOR US, WE PAY THEIR SALARIES....

[smsmith]

81 views...one guy with big enough cahones to respond.

[Todd Caswell]

If I give you a letter will you read it for me??

With kids and work I cant be there. None of them are within 100 miles of me anyways. You can read it at any session you want. I hunt in 172. I have about 10 signatures from people that hunt with us that are POed! We have already emailed Leslie, and I told Larry Francis our local CO just what I thought.

What are we upset about??

[pushbutton]

62 views...zero responses. "Minnesota Nice"...how far is it getting you?

[Jameson]

For anyone who doesn't get MN ODN...the Brainerd meeting is March 19, Cambridge is March 20, March 24 in Bemidji, March 25 in Morris, and April 1 in Virginia.

These meetings are designed to get input from the public. They are "co-hosted" by the MDHA and MN DNR...please turn out in numbers AND MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD. Between these listening sessions and the upcoming public stakeholder meetings, if you want your input/beliefs/sightings/etc. heard...this is YOUR chance. If you don't show up and talk...then you better not be beatching and whining after they occur.

Thanks for the information.

[smsmith]

Before you have an aneurism, thought would let you know this site has something like a 10 to 1 of viewership of people who are actually registered and can respond versus those "lurkers" who can not. Of that 6 or 8 that can respond, many, like myself, are simply "site degenerates" that click on it because it is there......

No aneurysm here, just trying to pi$$ off enough folks to the point they want to get off the couch and get involved.

[picksbigwagon]

Not really sure if that is the best tactic for getting people involved...........thanks for posting the information

[SmellEsox]

I thought they were moving these to Little Falls instead of Brainerd????? Wish it was in LF, but will try to get to Brainerd.

[mntatonka]

No aneurysm here, just trying to pi$$ off enough folks to the point they want to get off the couch and get involved.

I think people are already ticked off at the DNR, and know they won't listen since they never have before. That's why no one wants to go.

[smsmith]

Moving the meeting to L.F. was discussed with Paul Telander yesterday, as was the possibility of adding another session if it couldn't be moved. He seemed somewhat resistant to that idea. I am hopeful that one or the other will happen.

[smsmith]

Not really sure if that is the best tactic for getting people involved...........thanks for posting the information

I'm not either, but doing something seems better than what typically happens in MN. Certainly open to differing tactics. I do what I do best...irritate and agitate. Other folks do things other ways. Your and anybody else's tactics and involvement are welcome. Somebody else wants to pick up the ball and run with it...go for it.

[smsmith]

I think people are already ticked off at the DNR, and know they won't listen since they never have before. That's why no one wants to go.

So, when the going gets tough...the tough quit? Just not in my nature I suppose.

They WILL LISTEN if we MAKE THEM. How does that happen? That's up to each of us. Doing nothing and just letting the DNR continue to do what they do isn't an option for me.

[Jameson]

I'm not either, but doing something seems better than what typically happens in MN. Certainly open to differing tactics. I do what I do best...irritate and agitate. Other folks do things other ways. Your and anybody else's tactics and involvement are welcome. Somebody else wants to pick up the ball and run with it...go for it.

might consider the best thing to do sometimes is to shut up and let other people do the work.

signed,

Gilligan

[mntatonka]

So, when the going gets tough...the tough quit? Just not in my nature I suppose.

They WILL LISTEN if we MAKE THEM. How does that happen? That's up to each of us. Doing nothing and just letting the DNR continue to do what they do isn't an option for me.

And while I applaud you for that, I also realize that no matter how much you say to these people, they all tell themselves they know better than you do. They act like they listen, then they go and do what they want. The only way you are going to MAKE THEM listen, is to show that you can get rid of them all and start from scratch. The new people might listen, because they'd understand their jobs aren't safe unless they're keeping people happy.

[smsmith]

And while I applaud you for that, I also realize that no matter how much you say to these people, they all tell themselves they know better than you do. They act like they listen, then they go and do what they want. The only way you are going to MAKE THEM listen, is to show that you can get rid of them all and start from scratch. The new people might listen, because they'd understand their jobs aren't safe unless they're keeping people happy.

I certainly don't dispute what you're saying. You are 100% correct.

However, there is a way to get the DNR to change. It won't be from you or me sitting down with them...it will be from our elected telling them they are (or are not) going to do something. I hate politics being involved with natural resource decisions, but let's face it...it is and will be from now on. We may as well attempt to get something positive out of that process for deer hunters.

I've contacted and re-contacted (and re-contacted) my legislators. They have been responsive...once they knew I wasn't going to go away I applaud Sen. Gazelka and Rep. Kresha for their involvement and interest in what the MDDI has done and will continue to do. If the deer hunters of MN want change (and from what I've seen and heard most do) we have to make sure our elected hear it...and hear it often. I believe our DNR Big Game Management division is in need of an external audit. I've let my elected know that a number of times. I will continue to let them know that.

If the Brainerd meeting gets moved to L.F. or if another session is added for L.F. it will be due to Sen. Gazelka's aide (frequently)advocating that it happen. Plain and simple.

[mntatonka]

I I believe our DNR Big Game Management division is in need of an external audit. I've let my elected know that a number of times. I will continue to let them know that.

and it's my belief that an audit won't do enough. A complete rebuilding of the big game division is what it would take. Just think of the money it would save on salaries to start from scratch!

[LandDr]

I was appointed to the MN DNR Pheasant Oversight Committee for two terms. This committee, just like the deer, waterfowl, turkey, etc oversight committees, meets regularity, discusses and puts recommendations together to present to the DNR. The pheasant oversight committee put recommendations together that would improve pheasant habitat, management, populations, hunting opportunities, etc. In the 4 years I was on the committee, I don't recall the DNR ever implementing any of our recommendations. It was so frustrating that several of the guys I was serving with resigned as they felt it was a waste of their already limited time to go to these meetings and put all of this time into making really sound recommendations only to have them ignored. Is the DNR reading this, maybe...if they are, the truth hurts...and they will most likely continue to ignore me or banish me from meetings, projects, etc. But I refuse to sit back and be quite while our pheasant and deer populations are destroyed. My feeling is that certain non-profits and government organizations have had 20 plus years to fix the problem...the results are we have some of the lowest pheasant numbers and low deer numbers in many areas...how about we let someone else try it now?

There is a large tract of land not too far from me that was purchased by a certain non-profit and is being donated to the DNR. The whole thing is being planted to native prairie. Not a single well designed winter woody cover area and not a single food source. When I talk to them about it, just ignored. Yet we had a 29% reduction in pheasants last year due to NOT GETTING THE HENS THROUGH THE WINTER..."Dead hens don't lay eggs!"

I applaud your efforts smsmith and I hope you get a lot of people out to that meeting. However, I feel the same as the person who made the statement that the DNR and non-profits feel they know more than the rest of us. They only way to change anything these days is to get people in charge that you want to be in charge. I hope we can see some change, but in the mean time I am going to keep working hard with landowners that want to change their land...that is immediate change with results.

Keep up the fight!

[smsmith]

and it's my belief that an audit won't do enough. A complete rebuilding of the big game division is what it would take. Just think of the money it would save on salaries to start from scratch!

You may well be correct(again), however an audit would be a darn good start I think. A complete rebuilding would never happen unless the audit found a reason for doing so...right? We'd never get a politician to push for a complete overhaul unless there was proof that it needed to be done. If there's a way to get that proof other than an external audit...I'm all ears.

[smsmith]

However, I feel the same as the person who made the statement that the DNR and non-profits feel they know more than the rest of us. They only way to change anything these days is to get people in charge that you want to be in charge. I hope we can see some change, but in the mean time I am going to keep working hard with landowners that want to change their land...that is immediate change with results.

Keep up the fight!

I agree...and we're trying to do just that.

I also agree that working with private landowners can lead to immediate, positive results. However, that does nothing for those who cannot afford those improvements, those who do not have the time, and especially for those who hunt public ground. I do not want to see hunting become an entirely privatized activity. We are well on the way there already.

[LandDr]

Stop going to the banquets and stop being members of organizations if they are not doing what you want. These organizations have had 20+ years to get it right and to put pressure where it needs to be...but unfortunately they are all sleeping together these days. One big cozy bed. If their funding suddenly went away, they would hear you loud and clear! We all know the "volunteer" local board members...organize boycotts until they get it. Can you imagine the riffle that would make!

[smsmith]

Stop going to the banquets and stop being members of organizations if they are not doing what you want. These organizations have had 20+ years to get it right and to put pressure where it needs to be...but unfortunately they are all sleeping together these days. One big cozy bed. If their funding suddenly went away, they would hear you loud and clear! We all know the "volunteer" local board members...organize boycotts until they get it. Can you imagine the riffle that would make!

There is one organization in particular that I have significant issues with. I am currently a member of said organization, but will not be much longer unless the guy at the top wakes up. Being in bed with the DNR right now is not what we need. We need a guy who doesn't have "higher" political aspirations and who isn't afraid to ruffle DNR feathers when its necessary. That organization has lost about 6K members since its peak of around 20K...I'd think that fact alone may make the leadership reconsider how it does business.